Council to decide fate of dog parks, tornado sirens in possible bond election

Council set to take action at Thursday meeting

Will Lubbock get a dog park in the next few years? Are tornado sirens in the works? Will major roads get a facelift?

The Lubbock City Council will at least start to answer those questions at its meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, the Citizen Advisory Committee gave city leaders a wish list of projects ranging from health and safety to quality of life, asking that residents have the final say in a bond election next May.

However, before the issues can be taken to the polls, the council has several decisions to make, Mayor Glen Robertson said.

“We need to look at all of the recommendations the CAC made and then decide what this council wants to do — if anything,” he said. “The first thing we have to decide is if we want to go ahead and call for a bond election. Then we have to decide what exactly should go on that bond election.”

Setting the date for a potential bond election and whether the vote will be up or down or on individual projects are the other big choices that need to be made, according to the mayor.

But, with energy rates going up, water rates spiking and property taxes potentially increasing, Robertson isn’t sure now is the right time to ask residents for more money.

“I don’t know that the timing is good,” he said. “I’m going to listen to the discussion tomorrow, but that’s probably going to be the input that I have.”

Councilman Victor Hernandez also has a concern about the committee’s recommendation, but it isn’t about taking the projects to the voters. The District 1 representative said he isn’t a fan of the recommended ballot style for this election.

The committee asked the council to serve the options “cafeteria style,” allowing voters to pick and choose the projects they’d like to fund.

Hernandez disagrees, saying it should be all or nothing.

Councilman Jeff Griffith, however, said an a la carte option is for the best, hoping the council does the same by examining each proposed project individually before adding it to the possible ballot.

While a May election comes with concerns of price and voter turnout, Councilman Jim Gerlt agreed with the committee’s recommendation of giving the bond package its own ballot.

“I don’t like spending extra money but at the same time if we try to do it at another time we tend to lose focus on everything,” he said. “Because of all of the other elections taking place, people tend to overlook the bond. I think it is an important election.”

The bond package

A project to put tornado sirens throughout the city comes in second place in terms of public safety — right behind the building of a new police station the committee recommended be done before a possible bond election.

Lubbock is the only city with a population greater than 200,000 in Tornado Alley that doesn’t have outdoor warning sirens, according to the committee’s recommendation. The proposed $2 million project could change that.

The idea of tornado sirens has been talked about for several years and two separate committees have looked at it recently. Now, the committee recommends letting the voters have their say.

In total, the municipal facilities and public safety portion of the proposed bond package — not including the police station — will be $18.5 million.

Another proposed project will address the city’s growing pains — specifically those felt in every pothole on Lubbock streets.

Street repairs, particularly the continuation of 34th Street reconstruction from Quaker Avenue to Slide Road and from Avenue Q to Interstate 27, make up a major chunk of the bond package.

The seven proposed street projects will cost about $66 million.

However, not all the committee’s recommendations are so serious.

In surveys, the public expressed an overwhelming desire for a dog park and splash pads and the bond package takes that into account, adding more pools and outdoor attractions to the mix.

The total cost of the proposed quality of life section of the bond package — including a $500,000 dog park — totals about $49.5 million.